Spending $11 on THIS Toast May Not Be Such a Waste

I love toast. Some may feel that is a boring statement, but fellow toast lovers can feel, taste, smell the excitement. Toast isn't just a piece of white bread with some half-melted butter smeared on top of it, causing the slice to nearly rip apart. Toast can be a culinary delight. And so, there is a toast dish going for $11 in New York.

I don't want to pay$11 for a piece of toast, but this $11 piece of toast in question isn't just your standard toast bread. We're talking a gourmet seven-grained bread served with pickled beef tongue sold at The Peacock in NYC. Cue the song with the lyrics, "I'm so fancy. Can't you taste this gold ...." I'd pay $11 for that.

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We should be paying more for our toast. We should be demanding a better bread. If I'm going out to eat at a good restaurant, I'd prefer some toast that didn't come from a bag with a twist tie. I could just pop that in the toaster myself at home. I'd love some bread that a chef thought carefully about preparing. Something fresh and with the best ingredients. No additives so it stays fresh for two weeks. I will pay for a housemade bread toasted with butter, also made by the chef. I love my toast in its basic form but also with whatever's fresh and in season, and in the creative way that chefs who love what they do prepare it.

Cooking is an art form too often lost on some diners. It's the years and years of overly processed foods that have caused some palates to fade.

At Five Leaves, one of my favorite restaurants in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, they serve a $12 "toast" -- but it's not what you think. It's a seven-grain toast served with a maitake mushroom cream with red wine, sautéed kale, and a poached egg.

Some may say, It's just bread. Bread is a staple. We're spending too much time thinking about it. Bring me a well done steak! But those of us who want fresh food prepared with real ingredients think otherwise.

Jessica Winchell, Executive Chef and owner at Global Palate in West Park, NY, serves her delicious housemade bread with each meal. One of the loaves she recently prepared was made with beets, grown locally in the Hudson Valley. There's a mint and pea bread being served there as well.

Diners at Global Palate get that with their meal, but some places do charge for their bread. Many of us wouldn't mind paying for bread if it's housemade. Paying $11 or more for a "toast" is worth it. Toast is clearly having its moment in the spotlight.

How do you like your toast? Would you pay $11 for some "fancy" toast made with other ingredients?